


A Matter of Time

by orphan_account



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dragons, Knights - Freeform, Other, kingdom - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:08:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26345362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Phobos lives in a world that needs to change. But for things to change, somebody needs to take the first step.





	A Matter of Time

Every story has a beginning, the way the world ended up how it did. Sadly, this world's beginning wasn’t great. The land was created to be magical, with dragons and unicorns and other creatures we can only imagine. And the humans, they were peaceful, and loved the other animals around them. Certain animals needed creatures of another kind to bond with, animals such as the dragons. Dragons typically bonded with humans, and all was well. 

But then humans started moving, changing. They built walls around their cities to keep other animals away, including the dragons. And so, the dragons and humans were at war. If it had played out differently, if it hadn't been a male who started it all, then the boy our story follows might not have felt the need for change, and this tale would not have been. But alas, it was a young man who killed the queen of the dragons in the beginning, and therefore it was men who were shunned. 

The kingdom changed, and over the years men were seen as worthless, and women superior. Along with the discrimination against men, dragons were also scorned. Rather than calling them as they were meant to be called, the word “dracul” became more frequently used, demonizing the typically peaceful beasts. Now, does this seem like a happy beginning?

. 

.

.

Now, the story we are following is one of a boy who wished to change the way his world was made to be. Phobos grew up in a poor family with many children. His parents were desperate, and therefore sent most of their children to the capital to become knights and guards for the Queen. Being a male, it was more difficult for him to qualify, but all his life he yearned for approval. He worked hard, and was eventually accepted to work in the castle. However, life didn't flow smoothly from there on out. There were still rapids upstream.

Being a male caused a lot of problems, including but not limited to: rude looks, harsh words and the most unwanted jobs. One such job was cleaning the stables. Phobos would usually be sent to do some jobs with his brother, Brennan. Brennan was the exact image of a “perfect male”. He didn't talk back, he did what he was told, and he liked it. He never complained, he was always straight-backed and straight-faced. Therefore, Brennan was sent to keep Phobos in line and not mess things up. You can probably see how this did nothing good for their already unstable sibling relationship. The mood of the family as a whole was that if you did your part and did it well, you were okay. If not, you were pretty much ignored.

Phobos did his part, and he did it decently. But everybody, his family especially, knew that if he had a choice he would fly away, and do it on the wings of a dracul. He always had an affinity to the things he was told were bad, which was odd because he seemed to yearn for approval. 

Our story really gets moving one fateful day when Phobos was left in a guard tower alone for night watch. Sometimes, his brother was busy with other things, so he was left alone to make sure nothing attacked while the castle was asleep. 

It was late, and Phobos started dozing off, his chin resting on the windowsill. He felt a strong breeze, but in his sleepy state, he thought nothing of it. It wasn’t until it started blowing his chocolate-brown hair around that he was shaken from his drowsiness. He quickly slipped his helmet back on and grabbed his sword, bolting up the stairs to the top of the tower. As he reached the top, he found a sight he never thought he would see. A dracul! A real, live, unharmed dracul was flapping its wings right in front of him. His jaw dropped, and his sword slipped out of his hand and clattered down the steps. He didn't remember drawing it, but then again it was probably muscle memory or reflexes, or something of the sort. 

The one time Phobos saw a dracul, it was an injured adult. He was on patrol with one of his many sisters, Aria, when they stumbled upon it. His sister killed it instantly, before he even got a chance to touch it. He stayed behind a few seconds after she left to lay his hand on its wing, but quickly ran after her. 

Today though, today he was alone. And this dracul was obviously young. He looked around. Nobody would see him. In the far distance was the castle. A herd of wild pegasi flew by the moon, and a unicorn stood on the next hill over. He heard crickets chirping and saw fireflies down in the grass, but otherwise the night was silent. 

He hesitated. To be caught would mean death, but nobody was there. He wanted so badly to touch the beast flapping its wings right in front of him, but he knew how wrong it was. But why should he care what the Queen says? She never cared what he said. He grabbed the ladder that was always stored at the top of the tower and started climbing. Although this dragon was young, it was still massive. Its chartreuse green paws clung to the tower. 

Phobos had to climb carefully because the wind from the dracul’s wings could knock him over if he weren’t cautious. Step after step, he made his way up, until he was facing the large green snout of the creature. He stopped. Was he really going to do this? With wide eyes and a racing heart, he reached out. His hand hovered, and then suddenly, it was on the dragon. He was touching a dracul. A real, live, breathing dracul. He looked up into its cinnamon eyes, and it looked into his, and suddenly he knew that as long as he was around, he would never let anybody or anything hurt it. This dracul was under his protection. 

Of course, that would be easy enough if the kingdom allowed draculs. Alas, if somebody so much as saw a dracul and didn't kill it, he or she was sentenced to death. Therefore, Phobos would have to find a place to hide his new, very large companion. But where could he possibly hide it? He ran to the bottom of the tower and went outside. The dracul flew down to meet him. As it landed, the ground shook. It lay down on the ground, and Phobos hesitantly sat and rested his head on its foreleg. 

It needed a name. Perhaps something fierce, so none will mess with it… but this dracul was anything but fierce. It was gentle and, dare he say, adorable. Phobos sat, studying the beast for a bit longer. He noticed its floaty personality and how when its wings rustled, they looked like leaves. Leaves… Leaf? It was definitely green… Yes, that would do for now. He called its new name, and it looked at him, and he knew. This dracul, his dracul, was perfect. It was his, and he was its, and for a moment, he forgot his dilemma. That is, until Leaf lay his head on the ground and the hill shook again. 

Phobos sat there all night, thinking, trying to find a way to hide Leaf. But as he sat there thinking, he knew that there was no way to stay. Either he let the dracul go and never saw it again, or he went with it and left behind everything he knew. 

What would his brother think? His brother would think him to be a disgrace, that was a fact. But then again, he would anyway. He was a male after all. Males were disgraces….. But why? What made them so different from females? As Phobos had a deep, philosophical conversation with himself, he started to nod off. 

As you may know, often what you were thinking of when you went to sleep shows up in your dreams. Phobos was brought back to the first dracul he ever saw. He was tromping through the dense forest, Aria behind him. She stomped along, unhappy with the fact that she was paired with her incompetent brother. At least she thought of him as incompetent. She passed him and took the lead, but suddenly stopped in front of a clearing, causing her brother to need to backpedal to avoid colliding. He peaked around her, and his eyes widened. That beautiful creature couldn't be a dracul. His sister grabbed an arrow from her quiver and shot it at the wounded animal. 

But suddenly, the dream shifted so that Phobos saw a meadow with many creatures. He saw a jackalope drinking from a river, and a pegasus taking a nap by a cluster of dandelions. The trees rustled, and out stepped a girl. Following her was… a dracul? But that didn't make sense. Why wasn’t she killing it? The girl turned around and smiled at it. She spoke to it, calling it a dragon. Wait, dragon? The last time anybody called them that was so, so long ago. Phobos suddenly realized he was in the past. 

As he looked behind him, his dream changed again. This time, he was on a battlefield. Draculs and humans were fighting, and then he saw a boy, no older than 15, and he was carrying the head of a dracul. He looked around, and suddenly, it wasn’t a battle. It was a slaughter. Draculs were being murdered. A large one, perhaps a mother, ran to her child, but a large rock fell and killed it. The mother ran faster and tried to dig her baby out, but was stopped by an arrow to the heart. And then, Phobos saw a man riding a dracul, and he realized that they must have bonded, like Leaf had with him. The dracul and human tried to run, to escape so that they could live together, but a woman on a pegasus swooped down and chopped off the head of the rider. The dracul turned and tried to snatch the pegasus out of the air, but it was too slow. Some people on the ground set up a tripwire, and the large beast fell to the ground. A knight stepped forward and stabbed it through the heart. The knight turned toward him, and looked him straight in the eye. And Phobos knew, if he stayed, him and Leaf would have the same fate as the two beings he just saw. 

He jerked awake, jumping up. Leaf’s wing was tented over the two of them. It was still dark out, but the sun would come up soon. Phobos ran back inside the tower to retrieve his sword. He ran back out to wake the sleeping dracul. As he nudged the beast's snout, its adorable eyes fluttered open. It sneezed, and he couldn't help but grin. He started walking to see if Leaf would follow. He got a few yards away before Leaf got up and bounded toward him. The dracul bent down and tilted his head as if asking for something. Phobos looked at him, and hesitantly climbed on. Leaf’s tail thumped on the ground as if he was a dog. Phobos grinned. He patted the dracul’s back, and they were off. Phobos only looked back once, taking it all in. He didn't know if he would ever be back again. 

What Phobos didn't know was that the person taking the next shift had come a bit early. From a hill away, she watched as dracul and human interacted. She kicked her horse into full-gallop and ran back toward the castle to report this to the Queen. Once she got back, the Queen sent a search party to bring back the traitor and dracul.

Phobos and Leaf had been flying for about a day now. As the wind blew through his hair, Phobos felt like the weight of the world was lifted off his shoulders. Flying on a dracul was so much faster than flying on a pegasus. It was getting late, and Leaf seemed to be getting tired. He was still young after all. Phobos spotted a valley, sheltered on three sides. He was also getting pretty drowsy, so they set down. They were pretty far ahead due to the speed of a dracul. They could rest safely for the night and get an early start the next day. They settled down in the valley, Leaf’s wing tented over them. As the sun set, they fell asleep. 

Phobos woke to the sound of hooves on the ground. Many, many hooves. He jumped up and drew his sword. Why in the world had he chosen this place to rest? There was only one escape, they were trapped. He looked over to see that Leaf had raised his head. He looked in the direction the dracul was looking and squinted through the dark to see a long shadow, far away, but coming closer by the second. As it came closer, he could tell that they were horses. Not just horses, but horses with riders. They had caught up, and they were going to take Leaf away to kill him. Then they would execute him publicly. Phobos paled. Leading the charge was a massive pegasus with a mane that reached the ground. That was his eldest sister, Millicent’s pegasus. That gave him a small spark of hope. Even if she hated him, they were still family. He might be able to at least have a chance to speak before being bound and dragged to the castle. 

He stood and waited for them to arrive. That was all he could do. Leaf was still too exhausted to fly. It was about 10 minutes before they reached them. Brennan, his brother, was also there, riding a small pony. His sister called out for him to accept his punishment and come willingly, but he asked to speak with them privately. He explained to the both of them the true history of how the world came to be as it was. He wasn’t much of a motivational speaker, but the horror on his face as he described the massacre that took place all those years ago was unmistakable. The way his face lit up as he described the world before the peace was destroyed was obvious. The truth of it all was so clear. 

Millicent was convinced, for she could make educated decisions on her own. She could use her brain, and she, much like Phobos, had a knack for having undesired thoughts. However, Brennan was still unsure. He was taught to listen to the Queen, he was taught that the Queen and kingdom were good, and he never questioned it. It was all that he knew, and he did have a submissive spirit. He did as he was told, he had always done as he was told. He wondered why that would change now. Just because of a dream his rebellious brother had? He was unsure of himself though… If Phobos wasn’t being sensible, how had he convinced his fiery sister?

It was when he looked into the dracul’s eyes when his heart flipped upside down. This wasn’t right. This innocent, adorable creature was not a monster, and he was not meant to be ordered around like an animal. He turned to his younger brother, looked at his older sister, and he was sure he would do what he could to help. But when Brennan looked at Phobos, he knew that he was never coming back, not until the world was safe for him and his winged friend. He hugged his brother goodbye, and a tear slid down his face. Phobos, of course, was shocked. He had never gotten so much as a pat on the back from his brother. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around his sibling, and what he was about to do suddenly was so much more real. He would probably never see them again…. He had just made up with them, and he would never see them again. He finally felt like he belonged somewhere, but he was leaving that place forever. As the two brothers let go of each other, Millicent shook her brother's hand and promised him to try and help change the minds of the people. He jumped onto Leaf, and they bounded away. Suddenly, he was gone. 

The two siblings who stayed were able to convince the search party of the truth that their younger brother had told them. It was decided that they would tell the Queen that the two had escaped, that they had flown away. Once they got back, that’s exactly what they said. Of course, they kept their promise. They started an underground rebellion, led by Millicent. Slowly, more people joined. It would take a long time, but there was a lot of damage to be fixed. After hundreds of years with the world the way it was, healing would take time. 

. 

.

.

It took time.


End file.
